Josh Davis, aka "DJ Shadow," is not particularly hip-hop. I suppose he has some B-boy mannerisms, and he rocks the baseball cap... but so does Fred Durst, and no one really considers Fred Durst hip-hop. But that comparison is not fair. Fred Durst is sad, read "pathetic," while DJ Shadow is sad, read "sentimental, morose." In fact, DJ Shadow is the saddest B-boy I know. Sure, he has the occasional rave-up number like "Walkie Talkie," but his soul is pure ambient sentimentality. The very nature of his genre, turntablism, is such that he worships at the alter of old records, themselves a virtually dead medium, the flotsam and jetsam of a bygone era.

The group that I can most closely compare DJ Shadow to is not turntablist or hip-hop but, rather, IDM darlings Boards of Canada. Like Shadow, Boards of Canada worship at the alter of dead media - 1970s era nature documentaries, Canadian Film Board productions and other miscellany.

The two have something else in common, they are the only two artists/groups that have made me well-up. That is, they have both impressed me or struck me in such a way that I have felt flush and had tears come to my eyes; not tears of sadness, but of overwhelming emotion. DJ Shadow did this to me most recently during his performance of "Blood on the Motorway" on the DVD of In Tune and On Time. There was something about the combination of images and music, particularly during the climax of "Blood on the Motorway," that deeply impacted me. And that is precisely what makes this DVD such a success. Shadow has made a great film, incorporating varying camera angles, fades, visualizations, etc. to create a feast for the eyes that closely approximates the feast he has already provided for the ears.

Like most live albums In Tune and On Time doubles as a sort of "best of" album. Indeed, all of Shadow's greatest are represented. Everything from his first single "In/Flux" to his hits from Endtroducing ("Mutual Slump," "Stem," "The Number Song," "Organ Donor," Napalm Brain," "Midnight in a Perfect World") to B-sides ("High Noon," "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)") to his work with U.N.K.L.E. ("Lonely Soul," "Drums of Death") to his latest material from The Private Press ("Fixed Income," "Walkie Talkie," "Six Days," "Mashin' on the Motorway," "Blood on the Motorway") are included on this release. In fact, the shear volume of presented material is amazing.

My favorite moments on In Tune and On Time include the coitus interruptus of "The Number Song," the chorus of "Walkie Talkie" (because I find myself loudly singing "I'm a bad-ass, motherfucking DJ, that's why I walk and talk this way" while driving around town - with my windows down!), the visualizations for "Organ Donor" and the awesome intro piece, "Fixed Income."

My only gripe about the DVD, and this is a minor and trifling quibble, is that Shadow's between-song banter is woeful. He is lackadaisical and his B-boy inflections float like a lead balloon. What is worse is that the CD that comes packaged with the DVD includes this regrettable between-song banter. Shadow is no frontman, having all the personality of a drummer or a bassist.

Otherwise this is a fantastic documentation of DJ Shadow's live show, one that rivals other classic performance DVDs such as NIN's And All That Could Have Been.

Rating: 5